Bhubaneswar, April 10: Cashless real estate transactions will soon become a reality for land losers and some builders here.

In the near future, if you happen to lose a portion of your land to city development, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) will compensate you with a document called transferable development right (TDR), which is worth the value of your land.

It can be exchanged for property anywhere in the city or for cash.

The BDA has incorporated a clause in its 2013 building regulation amendments for this purpose.

Vice-chairman of the BDA Vishal Kumar Dev said: “One can compare TDR with a share certificate. If one gets a TDR for one’s land at any place, say Saheed Nagar, the certificate can be used to buy property, say near Patia. However, the available land could be less or more in area as land rates will be different.”

Giving another example, Dev said: “While planning renovation of natural drainage channels in the city, we found that many plots along the channel were privately owned. We cannot arrange for such a large amount of money to buy the land, but can issue TDR in lieu of the land.”

In certain cases, TDR has special advantages. In case of people having to give up their land for conservation of historical monuments, they can avail of TDR when they build houses elsewhere and the document will allow them to build more floors than is normally allowed.

Use of TDR will also help in faster clearance of projects relating to urban development.

With traditional land acquisition, there are often court cases. The land losers end up getting lower than the market price for their property because of the late disposal of such cases.

Director, town planning, Prashant Kumar Patnaik told The Telegraph: “States such as Maharashtra have already implemented TDR in cities such as Mumbai, Thane and Pune. In Gujarat, real estate developers are reaping the harvest of TDR by building low-cost houses. They get the TDR benefit of being allowed to build extra floors in projects meant for posh localities to compensate for their loss in building affordable housing.”

“In Andhra Pradesh, TDR certificates are issued to landowners in Hyderabad who have lost their plots to development activities such as conservation of archaeological sites, widening of roads, construction of stadiums or schools or redesigning of a traffic square,” Patnaik said.

The BDA has submitted the building regulations amendments to the state government after incorporating the TDR clause.

Once the government approves the clause, the housing and urban development department will form the guidelines.

D.S. Meshram, president of the Institute of Town Planners, India, and former chief planner, government of India, was in city for the silver jubilee of the organisation’s regional chapter.

He said: “In cities such as Mumbai, a small plot means a lot to the owner. But, even if one loses a part of one’s land, TDR can compensate for the loss at another place.”

Principal secretary, housing and urban development department, Injeti Srinivas, however, said TDR could also be a bit risky, rather like share trading.

“We have to be extra cautious and form the guidelines accordingly. TDR for Bhubaneswar is at a primary level and likely to be implemented within six months.”